The devastating Yarnell Hill wildfire took firefighter Andrew Ashcraft’s life, but his legacy of unselfish commitment lives on. Here, his wife, Juliann, shares her story of love and loss, and how his memory inspires her and their children to “be better.”

Monday used to be Family Night at the Ashcraft home in Prescott, Ariz. But instead of just watching movies or playing board games, Juliann and Andrew taught their four children life lessons like patience, forgiveness, and helping others. One evening, Andrew, 29, who was an elite firefighter with the nearby Granite Mountain ­Hotshots, talked about self-improvement. To inspire his kids, who were all under age 7, he handed out white rubber wristbands with “Be Better” inscribed on them. He kept one for himself. “He said he wanted to be the best person he could for his family,” says Juliann, 29, through tears, “and vowed to wear it until the day he died.”

Andrew Ashcraft on Father's Day, 2013. (Courtesy of Juliann Ashcraft)

Sadly, that day came all too soon. On June 30, Andrew and 18 other Hotshots died in the Yarnell Hill wildfire, the greatest loss of U.S. firefighter life since Sept. 11. The wind-­driven, 2,000-degree flames changed direction, trapping them in a canyon. The men had no choice but to try and seal themselves into the fire-resistant shelters they ­carried with them, lie face down on the ground to pray, and wait it out.

But they didn’t make it.

Despite his high-tech shelter and fire-resistant clothing, Andrew perished. Among the personal ­effects that ­Juliann received was his “Be ­Better” band.

“It was burned and it was black, but somehow it was ­totally intact,” says ­Juliann. “It’s a small miracle.”

The citizens near Yarnell are still devastated, but none more so than the girlfriends and widows and 16 children left behind.

“People say every day will get a little easier,” says Juliann, “but in fact, it’s gotten harder. He’s not here for pumpkin-carving-day-with-Dad at school, or for the holidays at home, or to coach the kids’ soccer teams. Just the other day my son came home from school and said the kids told him his daddy’s a zombie now, and was that true? I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ ”

At times like these, Juliann draws strength from ­Andrew’s example and his “Be Better” bracelet. She had ­replicas made with “Yarnell 19” on the back and a picture of her husband. All the kids wear them now, as does she. “It really helps with parenting, sometimes, to point to that band and ask, ‘What would ­Daddy want you to do?’”

What Andrew and the other brave men couldn’t do anymore was provide for their families. So Arizona’s leading education organizations established the Prescott Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial Education Fund. The goal is to raise $5 million to cover the education costs through high school for all 16 children of the Hotshots. So far, donations to the fund have reached $15,000.

“The emotional part of missing Andrew is the worst,” says Juliann, who tells of discovering a spa-day certificate he had bought her as a gift. “But next to that is the reality of losing our provider and breadwinner. To know that people are working to support the educational needs of my kids and the children of all the other families is truly life-changing.”